XFlipside: 01 Los Angeles Babes
by teh Kae
Summary: Two days after the fire in Manticore an X6 escapes to Los Angeles and makes a few new friends. When someone is killed, Jondy Morgan decides to be a hero. Will Luxie and Heresy jump for joy at the idea?
1. Introduction

Introduction 

Welcome to the first episode of X-Flipside!

Yes, first episode! Although I am writing it in prose, I am working on it as if it were a TV series in the false hope that James Cameron or one of his buddies stumble across here and… you know the rest of the story.

Before you start reading, I would just like to give you a few facts etc on the series.

X-Flipside's, or XF's ideas and characters were based on those in James Cameron's Dark Angel and in fact the whole series is what they call a spin off.

Although it is mentioned in the story, I would just like to say that XF takes place two days after the Manticore burnt down in Dark Angel, which means that it begins sometime between the first and the second seasons.

The main characters are Luxie Walker (created and completely owned by Monica or Princess10110992), Heresy Scott (created and completely owned by myself) and Jondy Morgan. Jondy Morgan's creation- and copyrights lie with James Cameron. However, Jondy never appeared in Dark Angel and therefore everything you read in XF is entirely created in my mind (unless you have heard of it in the series, eg her sleeplessness).

Episode one contains only one other character who will be important in the further timeline and he is mine too.

There are five chapters in the episode and I do not know how long it will take until I am able to write/post the next chapter because of upcoming exams and therefore I might have to die of stress, nagging parents or the pure hatred of myself that grows in my during times like these.

If you have any questions, suggestions and as little complaints as possible please review my story. And despite the fact that it makes me feel slightly good, please do your best not to comment only with 'Good story' or 'I liked it' unless you really have no time. I prefer to know why it was good and even if there were things you did not like, let me know, but let me down easily at the same time.

Thank you very much for reading this!

I love readers.

PS: For my avid XYZ followers, I hope you are not completely upset with the currently crappy status of the story. I have a fatal flaw in my generally flawless genius and that is when I am concentrating on one story I tend to fall behind on another. I hope you can excuse the lack of chapters. There are only a few more to go, so I hope I can get them done eventually.


	2. The Flipside Of Thievery

**X –** Flipside

'X –' in Nail Scratch (20, Bold)

'Flipside' in TopSecret (20)

Chapter One: The Flipside Of Thievery

It seemed forever ago to Luxie that Manticore had burnt down and she had been able to run free. She could have stayed in Seattle but the constant wars raging against her kind were just not what she had hoped for in a real and possibly normal life. If she was to die, she really wanted it to be of old-age, not being burnt at the stake.

That was two days ago.

Luxie had awoken to a new day in a new city – the City of Angels to be exact. She stretched her arms as she exited the plane with her small black backpack. It was not standard Manticore issue, but she did not care as much as should have. She was free from the torment she had endured for 18 years of her life and she would cherish every moment she had.

So several hours after having realized Manticore was gone and would never again make her feel worthless, Luxie stole some clothes and a bright orange backpack. It's former owner had accessorized it so much it was barely visible under the patches, stickers and little things hanging from it. The little things and stickers had been removed but the patches stayed. There was no particular reason but that Luxie actually found some of them nice enough to stay. Her outfit was plain but comfortable.

Los Angeles was not what she had expected but that was mainly because she had not expected very much. Luxie had not seen much apart from Manticore's barred windows and fences the height of two grown men. At Manticore every man and woman wore either plain issue soldier wear or as much bullet-proof equipment and the best guns and matching bullet-belts they could get.

A chill ran down Luxie's spine when her thoughts drifted back to Manticore. It was gone and she would never have to see anyone who had anything to with that ever again. Unlike Seattle, Los Angeles was not overrun with the genetically-mutated freaks that Manticore had created. In Seattle the barcode on Luxie's neck would get her killed; in LA it was a fashion-accessory.

Luxie breathed in deeply once she had exited the airport and watched the people walk past. Eventually she decided to sit down and placed her bag onto a bench next to herself. She tried to look like she was waiting for someone and did a well enough job by watching every person that walked passed.

The people here seem to have been unaffected by Pulse II and walked about as if the debris and dozens of beggars had always been there. Of course, Los Angeles was not the prettiest city in the world, but Luxie saw a lot of Seattle in this city and hoped greatly that she would not be hunted down here. The place could look like Seattle all it wanted, the people just had to be different and not homicidal.

Over the twelve years that had passed important Los Angeles businessmen had found themselves back to their suits and briefcases. The city although in ruins still looked like the centre of the rich and famous. She saw small posters on walls showing tall, well-endowed blonde women advertising cigarettes, holding microphones and talking about must-see TV series.

Luxie felt great to be in a place like this where not everything was ruled by being able to put a gun back together in under twenty seconds or throwing someone twice one's size to the ground. It was wonderful to know that the most important thing was looking pretty and making money. Luxie breathed in and smiled at the new and fabulous life that was ahead of her.

Two hours later Luxie was miserable, hungry and tired. She had moved from her bench in front of the airport and stolen herself an apple but now she was hungry again. She did not want to sleep on the road and she was cold. The whole situation seemed to have turned upside down and life had kicked her in the ass.

She looked up at the building she was standing in front of and felt the muscles in her neck crack as she suspected 24 stories. Algebra had never been one of her strongest points as the concept of it had completely alluded her. She looked down at herself and hoped that a hotel as noble as this would not mind her clothes. They had not been washed in almost two days since she had stolen them out of the department store in Seattle.

"I'm sure they won't mind," Luxie told herself and dusted herself off a bit. "Hot chick like me can get in anywhere," she added and strode into the hotel. She almost gasped in amazement as the doors slid open on their own but restrained herself. She walked up to the counter and the receptionist watched her with a patronizing look.

She smiled a sweet smile and leaned onto the counter, making sure her breasts were easily visible.

"Hi," she said in a soft voice. "I'd like a room, please."

"How long will you be staying, Miss…"

"Walker. Just one night for the moment," she said trying to sound like she had already made arrangements elsewhere. He nodded and she guessed he had accepted it. He looked down at his notes and then up again.

"Could I have your credit card number, Miss Walker?" he asked and she looked at him with wide eyes. "We'd like to know if you are able to pay for a room."

"Aren't you going to ask me what kind of room I want?" she asked a bit to gruffly. She'd learned hotel procedure at Manticore and he had gotten it all wrong. _Stupid hotel person_, she thought to herself.

"Our rooms are quite exclusive, Miss Walker. Even a single room costs a fair amount," he said his voice dripping with disgust. Luxie opened her mouth and nodded before closing it again.

"Oh," she said after a while. "Well, if you're going to be that way, I'll take my bundles and bundles of cash elsewhere." She gave him an angry smile before turning on her heel and leaving the hotel with equally angry stomps.

Luxie leaned over the edge of the Koya Museum's roof and marvelled at even its height. It was not as big as the hotel but it was quite impressive on its own. As she had done in Seattle, Luxie was going to be earning her living the illegal way and a museum would have the most pricey objects in it. She turned and jumped up to sit on the ledge.

"Plan of action," she said out loud to no one in particular. She had no blueprints and was just hoping things were as basic as the primitive thieving techniques she had first learnt. If everything was standard build the roof door would run down a staircase and then a door which if opened would most probably trip an alarm. How would she get into the actual museum without tripping an alarm?

She could switch it off but for that she would need blueprints and know where the power was, so she would have to somehow surpass it. Jumping the lasers would be no problem – that was basic Manticore training. Luxie had learnt to skip the little red beams at the age of 8. Of course, it had been a lot easier back then but eventually she had gotten taller and they had made the spaces between the lasers smaller.

"Hm," Luxie said thoughtfully and tapped her chin to make sure that any self-respecting stalker would know she was thinking – not sitting around like an idiot. Naturally she hoped there was not a stalker in the surrounding area, otherwise she might have to rip his head off, and that she did not want to do.

She tried to remember the shows she had been allowed to watch on TV. Ever since she had been about twelve years old, around the time of her first mission, Luxie had been granted the privilege or television. It had taught her enough about the real world and also given her a nice shot at being able to communicate with the 'ordinaries' her age.

She remembered watching a movie by the name of James Bummed. Mister Bummed had been a spy or assassin or something of the sorts, just like Luxie was, except that he was an ordinary. He had tried to sneak into some place that was guarded with high-tech and highly advanced security equipment. In one of the movies he had cut the security alarms and this woman he was hanging around with had seduced the guards.

'The guards,' thought Luxie. She had been rather advanced in seducing people and her assets were always rather helpful when it came to doing so. However, she did not want people to recognize her already. Then she remembered something else Mister Bummed had done on more than one occasion.

He had used some of high-tech weaponry and blasted, cut or in some other obscure way created a hole in the floor and then used ropes, harnesses and pulleys to lower himself to the floor.

Luxie jumped off the ledge and knelt down on the floor. She gave it a slight tap and frowned. This was not a single layer roof and the architect had made sure that no one could punch a hole into it. Luxie sat up still with the frown on her face and looked around. Then she realized how blind she had been and got up.

She had spied a glass roof with windows. It was so obvious she could kick herself. Only she did not because that would have been even more stupid. Luxie strode over to the windows and looked through them.

She focused her eyes and spotted several red lines running along the floor and one crossing the latch on the window. Luxie rolled her eyes and the ease at which she could get into the building.

Luxie knelt down next to the glass window and grabbed her backpack. First she pulled out some gum and popped a piece into her mouth. Then she pulled out a glass cutter an cut a small circle large enough for her hand to pass through. Carefully she moved her hand through the glass making sure not to trip the alarm.

Then as she slid the latch into the open position she held her finger where it would have broken the laser. Carefully she opened the window not moving her hand. Once she had opened the window far enough for her other hand to pass through, she pulled the gum out of her mouth and stuck it over the laser's exit point, removing her hand at the same time.

She smiled smugly when there were no sirens as she opened the window completely.

"Another job well done thanks to the brilliance that is myself," she said and placed her glass cutter back in the bag. She grabbed another piece of gum and looked around if she'd left any evidence. Her eyes fell onto her piece of gum and she winced. She sat back and thought for a moment.

If they did find the gum and use the trace of spit they found on it, what records would they use. Luxie as an all American genetically-engineered female killing machine created in a lab, had no actual records anywhere. When she did they were created black market style by Manticore and since the place had burnt down – they would not have anywhere to look for her 'spit records'.

"Good," Luxie said to herself. "So, I'm untraceable. No fingerprint records either," she said and glanced down at the window. An untrained eye would not see it and security would be using talcum powder but Luxie's feline eyes could see her grubby fingerprints all over the place. She spat onto her sleeve and quickly wiped over the windows and the latch removing the major traces. "I'm such a genius," she muttered to herself and with swift movements grabbed the windows ledge and hung down inside the museum. She looked down and tried to spot a place with fairly any lasers. She spotted it and swung herself forward a bit. She swung back and when she returned farther forward she let go and dropped to the ground.

When she landed she felt her momentum working and almost topped over. Luckily she caught her balance before she managed to engage contact with any of the lasers. Luxie looked around to see if she was anywhere costly.

She was, however, standing in a modern art exhibition and modern art did not go well in the black market. She needed something more substantial, something along the lines of Mayan jewellery or ancient Italian recipes. She glanced around and found a large map of the museum.

Luxie decided against using her superior eyesight this time because the constant de-focusing was getting to her head and she felt a major migraine for tomorrow morning coming up slowly. Luxie revolved her shoulders in their sockets and shook her feet out carefully before awkwardly bouncing across the criss-crossing lasers to the map.

"Ah, Amazonian Rainforest Jewellery," she said running her fingers up and down the plastic covered map. "How very convenient," she muttered and then glanced to her left. She squinted and then looked to her right. Then she returned her gaze to the map. After a moments consideration she bound off to her left.

A few seconds later Luxie was standing in front of the entrance to the exhibition and although it was a strange feeling, a thought crossed her mind. Something did not seem right here, but she shrugged it off and walked into the room. She glanced at the cases and spotted fantastic jewellery that she knew she could fence for many, many pretty American dollars. If she grabbed one or two of them, she could afford a night at that hotel and show that concierge!

Luxie stopped and noticed something moving. Or someone to be more exact.

'Damnit,' Luxie thought. Apparently she was not the only art-loving thief in Los Angeles. Then she realized what was wrong. There were no lasers in this room and the other thief must have switched them off.

"Eh, hey," Luxie said the first thing that crossed her mind. She realized talking to the other thief was not one of her best ideas, but maybe that guy knew which was the best thing to fence. The guy froze and turned around and Luxie blinked letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. The guy was not a guy but a tall, very attractive woman.

"Hi," she said with a smile throwing sparkling white teeth at Luxie. "Look what the cat dragged in."

'Cat,' Luxie thought with amusement at the irony. 'Wait…'

"That's interesting," the young woman said tilted her head to the side slightly. Both the females in the room were now using their felines sense to test certain things and they both found the same thing. "Another furry little freak in LA. I'm amazed."

"I'm neither furry nor a freak," Luxie said slightly upset. She would have denied being little but this woman sure was not one of the shortest Manticore creatures she had ever seen. The woman straightened her head and walked over to Luxie, the bright colours almost blinding the girl.

The woman had deep dark brown hair contrasted by a bright green bang on either side framing her face and orange-brown eyes. She was wearing a bright red skirt that looked something that an Oscar-nominee or a stripper might wear. Her face was plastered with a sneer that seemed very much like what Luxie's imagination pictured a snake's smile.

"You're a freak, just like me. What are you? X5? X6?" she asked and examined Luxie. Now that she was almost two feet from Luxie, the girl felt very, very short. Although she did not know the woman opposite her, she knew the two of them would not have one of the best relationships. However, Luxie knew that a transgenic was most probably the only person who would let Luxie stay for a night or two.

"Not sure where that's the most important point here," Luxie said and looked around. "Are you going to steal this stuff?"

"Some of it," the woman said with a shrug. It did not seem like much of a big deal to her. "I hear the people on the street like the Amazon as of late."

"You can't steal things, it's immoral," Luxie said with a huff. Needless to say she was about to do the same thing, but this woman needed a lesson taught. Trying to take the things Luxie _needed_. Luckily Luxie's Manticore breeding program also had a course for lying professionally and the girl's comment was spoken so truthfully one might have thought her an angel.

"Born and bred at Manticore, baby, I don't care about morality," she said with a smile and walked back to the case she was working on. She had already cut half a circle into the glass of the case and was slowly finishing up.

Luxie walked over to the woman and leaned over her shoulder to deliberately annoy her. The case held a black velvet choker studded with dozens of demons and a single ruby droplet.

"Do you mind?" the woman hissed and glared at Luxie. Luxie gave an innocent smile that showed she had not noticed.

"Sorry," she whispered deviously and took a step back. Then the woman straightened her back and turned around to look down at the girl.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked with a smirk. Luxie nodded trying to look like she had not bee caught out.

"I work for security," she said again sounding like it was true. The woman huffed and then carefully moved her hand into the case. Like Luxie had done clumsily she surpassed the lasers with ease and pulled out the choker. Apparently the case was on a different laser-support-system than the rest of the room. She placed the choker around her neck and clipped it into place.

"Does it make me prettier?" she asked with a sweet innocent smile.

"It makes you look even more like a hooker," Luxie said blandly. The woman raised her eyebrows but said nothing in response. "Look, lady," she did not like calling her 'lady' but since that was all she knew about the other female she had no choice, "despite our already beautifully developed relationship, I need a place to stay tonight."

"Good for you," the woman said and began walked. Luxie trotted to catch up with her and the two of them left the room. Luxie cursed herself for not having grabbed something valuable to fence but hopefully the woman would give her a place to stay.

"What I'm trying to say, or ask, is if maybe I could spend the night at your place," she suggested. The woman stopped and Luxie bumped into her.

"And, why would I do that?"

"I know who and what the thief of that choker is and I'm sure police officials would love to know," Luxie said a smirk crossing her face. Now it was her turn to be on the good side of a threat. The woman glared down at the girl and then walked off. "I guess that's a yes," Luxie said bouncing after her. She had found herself a place to stay and hopefully a warm shower and brand new clothes while she was still dreaming.


	3. Los Angeles Babes

Chapter Two: Los Angeles Babes

It was almost one when the two of them stopped the car the second time around.

When they had left the Koya Luxie had taken her time in practically drooling over the other transgenic's car. While driving to the midnight black market they had had a ten minute 'No, you first,' session before giving each other their names and Luxie learnt that her supermodel non-friend went by the name Heresy.

As for the car Heresy claimed she had borrowed it.

"Then I accidentally sprayed it black, lost both number plates and got leather seats installed. It had all happened so fast. I was gonna give it back," she added with her sly smirk that Luxie thought was becoming some sort of trademark. Luxie had gotten one grand out of the eight that Heresy had managed to get for the choker, and she proudly thought of it as silencing cash.

"This doesn't look like general residency," Luxie said looking at the place they had parked in front of. She jumped out of the car in typical Hollywood movie style and read the name written over the building's entrance. It was written in a Grunge style that made it look like it was written with blood.

"Savage, the hottest club in town," Heresy said and walked off with her supermodel stride. She walked straight up to the bouncer who had been eyeing her all the way from the car. The other people in the line protested but unimpressed by their cries Heresy moved in close to the guy and ran her finger along his lips. "Hey, Tommy, I can get in free of charge, can't I?" she asked her voice dripping with seduction.

Luxie noticed something strange about the way she was acting and glanced around at the others. She saw all male eyes on Heresy and then realized what the woman was doing. Heresy was in heat and was spraying her feline pheromones all over the place. Every man in a vicinity of 16 feet was under that vixen's spell.

"Sure, baby," Tommy said with a grin. It was the kind of grin that thought he was getting some tonight. "How about we get together later?" he asked and confirmed Luxie's suspicion. She was standing slightly off so that she would not immediately be identified as one of Heresy's personal acquaintances.

"Sure," Heresy said that smirk not leaving her face. "Later." Then she walked into the club without a protest. The guys outside watched her and eventually noticed what they were doing and pretended it was all part of the manliness that made them who they were.

Eventually Luxie bounced over to the door, gave Tommy a slick grin and walked into the club without even bothering to ask. She looked around but could not spot her female companion. It was fine by her but the problem lay with the fact that Heresy was her ride home.

"I'll find her," Luxie said and began swaying to the music. The music in Los Angeles was more than never brand new and sung by either woman with sweaty and oily breasts or men who did not seem to own a single shirt, let alone pants that actually fit. But Luxie did not mind because she had come to learn and like the real world where this was normal, which was what she wanted to a certain extent.

She watched guys dancing with girls and practically humping them at the same time. She grinned and walked on to the dance floor to be one of those girls. Her life in the real world was just beginning and it was gonna be better than ever.

Jondy Morgan watched the girl who had followed Heresy into the club. She was short and curvy but attractive nonetheless. She had unruly black hair, brown cat-like eyes and clothes that seemed to come out of a dumpster. Poor girl did not know what she was risking hanging around with Heresy.

If there was one thing Jondy knew, it was that Heresy was a devil in disguise. She would corrupt the young girl before there was even time to save her. Jondy took a sip from her beer to celebrate the future suffering.

"Poor, poor child," she muttered to herself and watched the girl dancing with the guys. The way she moved she seemed like Heresy had already gotten to her.

Jondy straightened her back, rolled her shoulders and then felt an arm sliding around her waist. Men – so predictable. She really did not feel like a man right now and ran through the possibilities of getting rid of him ASAP.

"Hey, babe," she heard a deep voice and turned around to look at her newest admirer. He looked good enough but there was no way he would be able to utter anything intelligent. Jondy could tell, just from the way he tried to seduce her by smiling. She gave him a look to let him get on with it. However, he was not particularly intimidated: "Do you think you can sing a little song, do a little dance…"

"Make a little love? I don't think so," Jondy said with her friendliest 'piss-off' smile.

"Come on, babe," he said letting his hand wander. "You know you want to." Jondy gave a huff before grabbing his hand and twisting it. The man turned and gasped in pain although Jondy was not doing very much in her own opinion.

"I said no," she informed him and twisted a little harder.

"Let go, bitch!" he yelled at her and she gave a small laugh. People around them were already beginning to stare and Jondy had taken twelve years to stay unnoticed, it would not end here. She gave him another twist, then let go and strode off like the woman she was.

"Self-defence classes," she informed a group of stunned women on her way to the bottom level. She rushed down the stairs pushing past the people going the other way without much consideration and took another swig.

Sure, the running was not much of a big deal nor would the alcohol have any effect on her but it was the taste that really got her. She had had that French wine that everyone was talking about but that was expensive for one and did not give much thrill when gliding down ones throat. So Jondy stuck with the beer and the bitter taste kept her from forgetting where she came from.

"Heresy," she said as if the woman was in front of her. She did not know where her unit-mate was but she sure had heard it. Thanks to their super-sensitive hearing the two of them could hold conversations in clubs packed with people and drowned in music that blasted their ears. The two of them were glad they had had enough LA time to learn to tune their ears.

"What?" she heard the younger woman's voice next to her. Heresy had dashed all the way from the dance floor and snagged someone's beer on the way. She downed it. Jondy looked Heresy up and shook her head. She always had been one for looking like a super-star, no matter the occasion. Heresy noticed the look and smiled.

"Who's she?" Although there was no implication of which girl was meant, no nod, no glance, nothing, Heresy know Luxie was the subject.

"Caught me when I was at Koya," Heresy said with a sigh. "She needs a place to stay for the night and threatened me. Also managed to snag a grand from _my_ prize." She was quite upset about that and thought Luxie deserved to be drawn, hanged and quartered; shot if possible too.

"Poor Heresy got caught. I thought you were the master thief," Jondy said with a smirk crossing her face. She always enjoyed seeing Heresy loose a place on her food chain. She glanced towards Luxie who was looking very amused with the guy she was talking with. "So is she staying with us?"

"We'll kick her out tomorrow," Heresy said pulling her nose up. She was certain Jondy did not like the pale girl either. The blonde girl just gave a nod and indicated she wanted to leave. She downed the remaining half of her beer and walked towards the door giving a slight wink towards Tommy.

Heresy threw her empty bottle onto a nearby counter and slandered over towards Luxie and her fellow.

Luxie smiled at the guy in front of her. Normally she was not one of the most friendly people especially upon meeting them the first time. Generally she was described with the word 'bitch'. However, it was her first night in the beautiful city of Los Angeles and Dustin was really a nice guy.

He was charming and quite persistent in buying Luxie drink after drink. Although Luxie could see right through his façade of wanting her drunk and being an easy catch, she played along. Like Jondy and Heresy Luxie's blood broke down the toxins almost immediately so there was no damage to her liver and no hangover to look forward to tomorrow morning.

"Wow, you must be really rich," she said with a fake blonde giggle. She twirled a piece of hair in her finger. Dustin had just informed her that he and his brother had inherited their father's company and cash always was one of Luxie's favourite subjects.

"I supposed. I've only just started and I have to get used to everything first. I'm not even sure where all the money is," Dustin said with a smile. He took another gulp from his bottle. Luxie did the same and thought that this guy could hold his alcohol pretty well too. Dustin had had almost as much beer as she had and he did not look the least tipsy.

"You know you're kinda hot," Luxie said and reached over to him. She ran her hand down his chest but moved it away before she could touch places she did not want to. "I wish I'd met you earlier," she added. She thought about the comment that had just flowed out of her mouth. It was actually a good comment, which was saying quite a lot. If she had met Dustin before she had gone on her illegal spree and met Heresy, she might be staying at his giant mansion tonight.

"Are you legal?" Dustin asked with a playful grin. Damn, he really was hot. Luxie smiled and straightened.

"Course I am," she said slightly too gruff. Her 'drunkenness' had disappeared and she seemed perfectly fine. "And don't even think about that," she added and took another swig. Since this was America, Luxie cherished the way she did not care much about rules, because the eighteen-year-old was not entirely legal.

"Hey, is she bothering you?" came Heresy's honey-sweet voice and Luxie felt the elder lean onto her shoulders. She turned to glare because now Heresy had come and was definitely going to take what Luxie rightfully deserved… again.

"No, not at all," Dustin said smiling at Heresy. Her demon poison had already begun to work on him and Luxie felt like getting up and leaving. She tried but Heresy had a tight hold on the younger transgenic.

"I have to take the girl home though," Heresy said emphasizing the word 'girl'. Luxie growled a little which was a bad idea. "She still has to take her meds."

"Thanks, Heresy."

"Heresy," Dustin noted. "That's a real original name."

"It's cause she's a heathen from hell," Luxie growled and pushed Heresy off herself. She got up with an angry glare. He had seemed so interested in her before that woman had begun spreading herself around. "Bye," she said and turned.

"Wait," Dustin said before she could even begin walking. Luxie slowly turned around and watched his hand slip into his pocket. He smiled as he handed her a crumpled business card. "I got these recently made. Sorry about the crinkles." Luxie took the card and looked at it suspiciously. Heresy leaned over the other girl's shoulder, trying her best to look over Luxie's head.

"Infinity Incorporated? Seriously?" Heresy said with a snigger and grabbed the card. "You wish," she said throwing it back at him. Then she walked off which was Luxie's cue for her ride home. She looked back at Dustin whom she was still angry with. He took the card and gave a slightly pained expression.

"Does it seem that unbelievable?"

"She's a cynic," Luxie said and held her hand out. "Gimme!" Dustin chuckled and handed her the card.

"She's not going to ban you from the phone, is she?" he asked with that sweet smile of his.

"Her? Pft, she couldn't rob a museum without my help," Luxie said grinning at the direct comparison. "I don't know how long I'll be in the city though…" She did – for as long as possible. But her Manticore mind had clicked and flashes of 'Escape and Evade' clustered her mind. She was not to make any emotional connections to anyone, because that was a sure fire way of people getting killed for the cause.

"It's okay," Dustin said the smile still there. "As long as I know a beautiful girl like you has my number, I'll be just fine." Luxie grinned at him and stuck her tongue out before running off without a goodbye. She had remembered that her ride was the heathen vixen from hell and if she wanted a place to stay, she had to be in the car to get there.

"Took you," Heresy said when Luxie jumped into the back of the car. She would have seated herself in the passenger seat again but there was a blonde girl in her place. Jondy turned around to look at the younger girl and smiled.

"The name's Jondy," she said. "I was in Heresy's unit."

"Luxie," the younger said slowly. She planned on being quite suspicious about anyone who was in any way connected to Heresy, even if it was her clone's unit-mate's clone's mother's real son. Anything that was related to or even came into contact with the wannabe supermodel was very possibly evil.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm the good twin," Jondy said laughing at Luxie's expression and turned back to the front of the car. Heresy rolled her eyes and increased the high speed she had already been using. Luxie turned to her left and leaned onto the side of the car. The nightlife in Los Angeles really was amazing. She remembered some girls from other units talking about the City of Angels and wanted to see it for herself.

"That's Infinity Inc.," she heard Heresy's voice and looked up. The transgenic's hand was pointing straight forward and Luxie gaped at the huge tower in front of them. It was almost as tall as the hotel she had seen earlier and just as impressive.

Near the top there was an 'Iinc' logo glowing a bright blue and green and illuminating the top floors. It was amazing how the company looked so modern. It must have been built after the pulse because something like this would have never survived.

"We've gotta do a school trip there," Luxie said her mouth hanging wide open. Heresy snorted and rolled her eyes. She took a right and Luxie turned her head. Sadly the view was now obscured by broken buildings lying around everywhere.

"It's not that impressive inside," Jondy explained and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She fixed a loose piece of hair back behind her ear and continued her speech. "Of course it has it's fancy entrance hall and the few rooms where customers go and the showroom, but most of it is manufacture."

"What do they make?"

"That place?" Jondy said not a question. She was just using the extra time to come up with a nice way of saying it. "The big guns."

"The big guns? That sounds like a stupid rock band," Luxie said with a laugh. She could almost imagine 'The Big Guns' on tour with gun-shaped guitars and leather all the way.

"No, stupid," Heresy interrupted Luxie's comical thoughts. "Real big guns. And small guns. All kind of guns actually. Knives too. Things that kill people in general."

"Guns don't kill people," Luxie said cocking an eyebrow. Guns were never much of a threat to her. She had been shot once or twice (or was it twelve times) and survived every time. Thanks to Manticore's ingenious genius in general Luxie had not a single scar to prove it only the memories. Even the files reporting her little encounters of the wrong side of the gun were now gone forever in a fire that had set Luxie free on the world.

"People kill people." That she had experienced as well. It was a normal Manticore event and every soldier, even those that could barely walk encountered it. There was murder everywhere in Manticore and eventually no one cared anymore.

"Aww, that's cute," Heresy said mockingly. "But guns do kill people and you'll just have to live with that." Luxie was just about to protest when Heresy turned a sharp curve into an underground garage and made a sudden stop into a parking space.

Apart from Heresy's there were three more cars and all of them were in a much worse state. Luxie realized that anyone who saw them driving down the road would have thought them rich. She sniggered a bit and got a glance from both Jondy and Heresy. She stopped sniggering and grinned at them instead.

"You're quite the cheerful one," Jondy said shaking her head and got out of the car.

When they entered the apartment and Jondy flipped the light switch Luxie expected to see something as spectacular as the car and possibly as fashionable as Heresy's dress, but she did not.

The place looked quite Spartan and reminded her greatly of captivity at Manticore. There was a double couch across from a small TV, a kitchen area with a bar and some stools and three rooms leading off.

Luxie rubbed her eyes in disbelief and glanced at the two women. Jondy had already disappeared into one of the side rooms which Luxie expected to be hers and Heresy was looking for something in a bowl on a drawer. She found a remote and pushed a button. Within seconds music began blaring from another room which was probably Heresy's. The stereo system probably did not belong to her.

"You can sleep on the couch," Heresy said dropping the remote back in the bowl. Then she walked off not giving Luxie anything else so the younger took her backpack off and walked over to the couch. A place to sleep was still a place to sleep even if it was a couch in a boring apartment.

Just before Luxie reached the couch Jondy came out of her room and called the black-haired girl over to herself.

"Don't mind Miss Sourpuss," Jondy said and the two of them heard a crash from Heresy's room. "She hasn't had sex in a few hours and that generally tenses her up a bit."

"I thought there was something," Luxie said and glanced into Jondy's room. It looked like something out of an old TV series with silk drapes in bright colours and dimmed lights.

"Oh, come on in," Jondy said and stepped aside. Luxie dropped her bag next to the door and walked in. Apart from the drapes Jondy had also hung up several wind chimes and posters. Some of the posters had Heresy on it but most of them had guys on them. There were lots of photos of people that obviously did not know they were being photographed. Jondy also had a little book shelf and an open closet.

"Nice," Luxie said although the room was not really her style. It was comforting, however, and Luxie was glad that it did not look like the main part of the apartment. She looked and then stopped when her head was turned towards Jondy's bed. She had spotted various barcodes next to the blonde girl's bed.

"332960073452," Luxie read the one that was in bright red. "Who's that?" she asked because she knew that it was a Manticore number. The number seemed familiar to her but Luxie's memory was not one of the best.

"My sister," Jondy said sadly. She was still standing by the door. "They were all in my unit," she said and walked over to her bed. She climbed on it and slowly ran her fingers over the barcodes. "This is Heresy." She grinned and pointed at a bright green one. There were two photo of Heresy above it; one of the other woman posing and one of Heresy's neck to prove the resemblance.

"Why are they on this wall?" Luxie asked and let facts run through her mind. From what she had thought so far was that Jondy and Heresy were only out here on a mission, but now it seemed as though they had been here for much longer than that.

"I just want them close to me," Jondy said and then smiled widely. She did not reveal Luxie's suspicion. "Not that I'm here very often."

"Why?"

"I don't sleep," Jondy said and again she smiled. It seemed Jondy really was the good twin because her smile did not in the least remind Luxie of Heresy's sneer. "Max and I always said we had shark DNA."

"Max?" Jondy ran her fingers over the red barcode. Luxie nodded and then turned to leave the room. Jondy grabbed Luxie's arm and turned her around.

"You sleep here," she said as if it were obvious. "I don't need the bed. I usually watch TV all night." Luxie nodded remembering what Jondy had said only moments before.

"Thanks… Jondy, right?" she said trying to get the name right. She had been fighting between Jodi or Jondy but Jondy just seemed like something a transgenic would pick over the other. Jondy nodded and got up.

"I hope my siblings keep you safe tonight," she said as she left the room. "And if they don't, I'll be right here."

"Thanks again," Luxie said and sat down on the bed. Jondy grabbed Luxie's bad and threw it towards her. Then she pulled the door closed and left Luxie to her lonesome.


	4. Just To Let You Know

Information For You!

Well, it seems this is not going to well which I can see from 5 reviews a 2 chapters. However, because I lurve Monica so much (and Luxie for that matter) you will get the next chapters still.

I missed my posting date (I told myself I'd post every Monday) so You're getting two chapters. Also I'm not going to be here next Monday, so you'll get the last chapter.

As for the single question I received: This is a spin-off of Dark Angel and I haven't got Max planned in any further episodes, but as you remember from All American Girl, Pack Instinct and XYZ, Luxie has a strange affinity for X5-493 and his _clones_. I hope that gives you something to think about.

If I get to making a second season coughyeah righthack She will be in there. With my brilliant planning brilliant planning abilities that means she'll probably be there halfway through this season.

I've almost finished the second Episode (just finishing up the last chapter) and with my low-low responses I don't know if I should continue.

Maybe you guys can drag some more fans along?

If you guys enjoyed Luxie so far – you might like her out of character-ness in chapter three of four (ha, ha, _I_ can't even remember exactly…)

If you enjoyed Jondy… you'll have to wait till the second episode, she gets more screen time there. Although she is quite big in this one and that Luxie OOC, there's Jondy being all as opposed (yeah, I use 'as opposed' as an adjective).

If you enjoyed Heresy, you must be very, very mad in the head. However, she doesn't get much fun in this episode, see her in all her stripper glory next episode and being all as opposed in episode three… (long time till then unless reviews sped my inspiration)

More of Monica's Dark Angel stories will also have that effect


	5. Infinity Incorporated

Chapter Three: Infinity Incorporated

It was almost noon when Luxie woke with a start and a snort. She looked around because when she had woken up the day before it was underground. Then she remembered that she was in Los Angeles and staying with two other Manticore freaks. She was glad despite the fact that one of them hated her and she would most probably have to leave them today. She was gone from Manticore forever and that was as good a deal as anything.

Slowly Luxie got up and rubbed her eyes. She caught a glimpse of the barcodes and quickly ran her eyes over them. One of them, 331845739493, seemed oddly familiar like she had already seen it before but she could not recall ever meeting of hearing of the soldier. There were snippets of newspapers above the barcode showing several different men with the same tattoo on the back of their neck. There was no way they were all the same soldier.

She shook her head to get the thoughts of the mystery soldier out of her head and looked at the other barcodes. Mentally she stored the numbers and looked at the pictures over some of the other barcodes.

There was Jondy's with her proof of identity picture and a picture that Heresy must have taken at a club. Above soldier X5-599's barcode there was a picture of a well-built blonde male and the same picture with a question mark over it was over 600's barcode. Luxie inspected the barcodes and assumed them clones. However, the fact that Jondy had drawn a question mark of the picture blurred that view. From what Luxie had heard, clones looked exactly the same and only the personality changed.

There was another blonde girl over 701's and a tall, lean young man over 711. All the other barcodes had no pictures and were simply black paint on Jondy's white walls. The barcodes were drawn so perfectly Luxie suspected that the blonde might be a little obsessed about these guys. She stared at the barcodes for a while before she realized she was hungry and grabbed her pants off the floor beside her.

When she walked out she had the eerie feeling of being alone and slowly walked into the kitchen area. She looked around in a few cupboards and found herself some cereal and milk. She made herself a bowl and grabbed a cup of coffee before slumping down onto the couch. While she ate she watched the room because she could not find the remote to the TV. Then she heard a clatter from Heresy's room and changed her vacant stare to a direct stare to the demon women's room.

Moments later Heresy stumbled out of the room, hair everywhere and wearing nothing but black lace underwear that held very well but revealed too much. She looked quite out of it and Luxie realized that cat must not be a morning person. She put on her cheeriest smile and greeted the grump. Heresy groaned in response and staggered into the bathroom.

Several minutes later she came back out, hair in place and face as fresh as apples on a tree. She gave an unfriendly sneer in Luxie's direction and walked into her room. When she came out she was wearing tight black jeans and a shirt that could barely be called that.

"Good morning again," Luxie said and swallowed the rest of her second cup of coffee. She had moved to the kitchen and had dumped her things in the sink. "Sleep well?"

"Just because you believe in abstinence does not mean that I have to feel great about not having sex," Heresy growled and Luxie smiled even wider. She had not asked anything and already Heresy was bitchy and giving off information that was of no use to anyone. Heresy looked at Luxie and shivered.

"What?" Luxie asked. Comments she could cope with, shivering in disgust was another thing.

"Despite the seed of hate that grows in me for you, you and I are getting you new clothes because if anyone sees me with you…" Heresy felt that Luxie's clothing told the story for themselves. "Be ready in half."

"Do it the Manticore way," Luxie said and fetched her bag from the other way.

"Where's Jondy?" Luxie asked when the two of them were on the road again.

"Work," Heresy said in almost as much disgust as she had looked at Luxie with. "We can't go around stealing all the time, can we?"

"If you'd been trained well enough," Luxie said with a smirk. She had always attended classes in thievery and had gained quite a few things from some of the guards thanks to the courses.

"They didn't teach us thievery," Heresy said with a shrug which was the signal to cut the conversation. The fact that Heresy and Jondy had never learnt thievery was quite confusing to Luxie because she had know how to pick pocket ever since she been twelve or thirteen years old. X-series always learnt all the basic necessities and thievery was just one of them. She decided not to ask Heresy about it because as far as she had processed the conversation, Heresy was buying her clothes.

"What's she work as?"

"Waitress."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Bored." Luxie waited a while before asking her next question. It seemed like it would happen but she was not sure because Heresy was a very confusing person.

"Am I staying?"

"Jondy seems to like you," Heresy said with a glare. "She wants to you stay because she doesn't want to you get caught. I hope you get caught and shot."

"But you want me to look good while doing so?"

"Let them know I dressed you," Heresy said with a snigger and sharp-turned again. She seemed to enjoy doing and the car did not seem to mind that much either. "We'll go to the market first."

"And then?" Luxie thought that a market was the only place to buy things nowadays. Stores were practically non-existent because people spent so much money on food and shelter they could not afford to buy a shop.

"Visit Jondy," Heresy said with a wide grin. "Shopping will take it's time and I don't want my big sister walking all the way to Savage on her own. Someone might mug her."

"Here's your soda," Jondy said placing the glass onto the table. "Can I get you anything to eat?" The young woman at the table shook her head and continued reading in the paper. Jondy gave a brief smile to no one and returned to the counter. She leaned on it bored with everything already.

"Why have you been up to, Jondy?" asked her fellow waitress, Alana. Alana was the same height as Jondy and had blonde hair too, although hers was fake her. She was a lot less fit than the other girl and was often advised to eat more.

"Nothing much," Jondy told her with a shrug. "Still partying hard."

"It's amazing how you party all night but I never see any sign of it on you," Alana said looked at Jondy's eyes. Jondy grinned. "You miss out on so much sleep, but nothing to prove it."

"I was born a party girl, Alana." Jondy turned to look at the TV that was always running. Sometimes it showed football matches if anyone felt like playing but barely anyone did, so now there was news running. Jondy did not like the anchorwoman of the show because despite her natural look she had a fake personality and enjoyed bragging about her status.

"Earlier this morning co-owner of Infinity Incorporated, Damien Infinite, was found dead in his apartment," she said not giving a hint of feeling. She was just reading off her cue cards and there was no need for human sympathy. Jondy enjoyed thinking that she was a failed creation of Manticore's, a nomilee, that could not perform more than one task at a time. Also she probably could not fight or defend herself in anyway, so when she did cross paths with Jondy, a real Manticore, she would get her ass kicked.

"The body shows that Infinite was shot by a sniper gun from one of the higher buildings. Infinite's older brother, Dustin Infinite, has ordered the police to find the murderer as soon as possible and rumours say he has a secret government agency helping him. Here is Dustin's comment on the finding of his brother."

The image changed to a young man with messy-style brown hair and brown eyes. He looked very suave in his black suit and tie and Alana nudged Jondy to indicated she thought he looked hot. Jondy was not very fond of guys in suits but she had to admit he did not look half bad. There were several cameras and microphones held up to his face and he looked deeply taken by the loss of his brother.

"Thank you for your sympathy," he said although all the news reporters wanted was a story. "I'm sure my brother would have enjoyed all this publicity but I know that he would not have wanted it to be to this occasion. When his housemaid found him this morning she called me immediately and I rushed over." Then he looked his gaze changed to a glare. "I will find the people who killed my brother and they will pay. I hope I can expect everyone's support. Thank you," he finished as he had started and then walked off. The reporters began following him but Dustin Infinite's various bodyguards kept them away from the business man.

"Must suck," Alana muttered.

"Hey!" they heard someone call and Alana pulled a face before running over to the angry customer. Jondy continued to watch the reporters desperate attempts to get more from Dustin, but there was nothing they could do; he was a well protected man.

'Only someone with mad skillz and mega muscles could get through those guys,' Jondy thought with a sigh. She had had her fair share of getting past big burly men until she was ten and now the bouncers in town let her pass without a question because of her sister's feline pheromones.

"That's the luck of a superwoman," she chuckled and then walked over to someone to serve them. She stood beside a table waiting for three men to place their orders. Two of them, big men wearing dark suits and sunglasses had noticed her appearance, but the third had not bothered.

"Hi. Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked with the mock-cheer that was present in every waitress.

"Beer," muttered the guy who was still staring at the table. His dirty brown hair looked as mess and his clothes did not smell as well as they might have, had they been washed. Jondy smiled and looked at the other two men.

"A glass of water, please," said the one further away from her.

"Coffee, no milk, no sugar," said the second gruffly. "Make it strong," he said and Jondy could have sworn he was trying to wink at her from beneath his sunglasses. She rolled her eyes but still smiled and walked away. She pulled a face at Alana which was their common signal for 'unfriendly customer'. Alana gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as she ordered the drinks from the barman.

"How bad?" Alana asked in conversational attempt.

"Beer," Jondy imitated the first guy. "Glass of water, please," she said giving off the air of aristocracy. "Coffee, strong, wink, wink. He winked at me under his shades," she complained. Alana giggled.

"You always were the one for…" Alana looked towards where Jondy had just come from. "The tall, dark and… okay, just tall and dark."

"Very funny, Alana," Jondy growled and punched her friend. To her it felt like she was barely applying any force to the stroke, but Alana gave her a playful glare and rubbed her shoulder damaged by superhuman strength. Jondy turned to watch her previous customers again. She realized the hunched guy was talking to the other two because they were watching him.

Being curious about the strange bad of travellers, she tuned her ears into their conversation.

"… on to something. Day wasn't hated by people because until my father died we weren't anything. Infinity is useful to everyone and without it – no more enjoyable murdering the innocent."

"I suspect maybe one of the large clientele didn't like was he was doing," one of the other said. He was the one who had ordered the water. He sounded dangerous but Jondy knew she could take him down in seconds. As soon as the young man had mentioned Infinity, Jondy was sure he was involved and judging her luck, he was most probably Dustin Infinite.

"Large clientele?" Dustin looked at his bodyguard in confusion. He had not had much time for looking into clientele or money and had until now only been specified on design and manufacture.

"Companies that buy shiploads of weaponry," answered the bodyguard. He glanced up to Jondy to see when the drinks were coming. Jondy glazed her eyes over and pretended to be staring off into distance like a ditz. He kept watching her suspiciously and then turned back to the others who had in turn been watching him. "Military schools, NRA's, soldier training camps."

"Soldier training camps?"

"They're like the army, but they work independently. People who enrol there get the full benefit of soldier training with all the push-ups and degradation, but there's no obligation to the military. When you leave, you're a free man and can join a band of heroes for all they care," he explained and gave a chuckle at his amusing comment. Jondy got a tap on her shoulder.

"Jonds, your drinks are ready," Alana said and pointed to them. Jondy quickly grabbed the coffee, beer and water and rushed over to the three men so that she might even be able to catch another titbit.

"… files are on Level 26," one of them men said when Jondy reached the table. She smiled an innocent smile and placed the drinks on the table. When she was done, she waited and looked at Dustin.

"Uh," she said carefully. He did not bother moving. "Are you Dustin Infinite?" she asked in her sweet waitress voice. He growled a yes before one of the men got up.

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said taking her arm. She let it go slack although it was barely a threat to her. She gave him an naïve look before he let her arm go and she walked off. Jondy rolled her eyes.

"Well, that was a total success," she muttered to herself. 'I wonder what it would be like playing hero?'

"Jonday!" she heard Heresy's cheery voice and looked towards the entrance. There stood her baby sister in an all new outfit. Upon glancing out of the window she saw the convertible filled to the brim with bags of clothes. "Look at what I created."

"You didn't create me," Luxie began and received a glare from Jondy. She smirked. "You dressed me." She was wearing a tight black dress that barely reached halfway down her thighs, a blue camouflage jacket that did reach halfway down her thighs and calf-high black boots with a metal plate on the front. "I still want to have some spikes attached," Luxie said with a wide grin when Jondy had reached her boots. "I don't like the dress but she forced me."

"I sure did," Heresy said with a wide smile a twirled to show off her equally short red dress. Although it was short enough already it had a short slit along the right side and showed a lot of cleavage. "The other outfit I choose is really awesome too."

"So, we leaving then?" Jondy asked and pulled her apron off. She seemed a bit desperate to the other two, but they did not mind leaving here. They wanted to party and show off their new clothes. "Alana, I'm leaving."

"What about your grumpy table?"

"You take 'em and I don't think they'll be giving much of a tip," Jondy said with a grin. She threw her apron at her friend and then left the store quickly with her fellow transgenics. Outside she sped to the car and jumped in the front seat, urging the others to leave. To taunt her Heresy took her time in finding the right key (out of the two she had) and waiting for a car to pass.

"What's the rush?" Luxie asked adjusting her skirt. She did not mind looking sexy but the fact that every time she moved her ass was showed to the world did not excite her. "Savage stays at the same place every night and Heresy gets us all in free by waving her bosoms and pheromones all over the place." Jondy shivered for no reason. She looked down at her leg which was twitching inexplicably.

"You okay?" Heresy said and looked down at the blonde's leg. For the first time since Luxie had met her, the vixen seemed worried and possibly afraid.

"Bring me home," Jondy commanded in a calm tone. Luxie looked at her in confusion as she twitched again. As they drove on the youngest noticed that the twitches had started by being minutes apart were getting closer and closer together the more time passed.

"What's the matter?" Luxie asked. She was not particularly worried but the fact that her only friend in the whole city was acting up was not a pleasant thought. She knew that every Manticore creation had it's problems and if the problems were really bad, it was down to the cellar or onto the doctor's table. She would have preferred the cellar over the table due to previous experiences but she hoped neither of them would come for any of the three girls, except maybe Heresy.

"Seizure," Jondy said with a faint smile that expressed serenity. Her whole body trembled as Heresy finally skidded the car across two lots and jumped out of the car. Quickly she hauled Jondy out after being smacked in the face by a stray hand and rushed up.

"Get the keys, Lux!" she yelled and the girl did what she was told. She left the shopping where it was and quickly followed the other two girls.

When the three of them were back in the apartment Jondy had been dumped on her bed, Heresy started going through her drawers.

"Where are they?" she yelled in desperation.

"Bathroom," Jondy said while shivering viciously. She smiled up at Jondy. "Don't worry, kid. It'll be fine soon. Got milk?" she added and gave way to more tremors. Luxie watched her as Heresy gabbed the blonde and poured several pills down her throat. Jondy continued shivering and Heresy pushed a pressure point on the woman's shoulder. Instantly Jondy fell into unconsciousness and the shivering stopped.

"What was that?" Luxie asked eyes wide.

"Seizures. Don't you get them?" Heresy asked and closed the lid on the pills. She left the room and the two of them went to fetch the shopping.

"No. Nothing," Luxie said. She had heard that some other soldiers had gotten seizures and other strange things happened to them, but she had never experienced anything. Heresy shrugged and the two of the walked down to the car in silence and back up to the apartment in the same silence.

The next morning Jondy sat up with a start and cracked her neck. She got up and began rolling her shoulders, knees and anything that had fallen asleep in the few hours of sleep she had gotten. Outside in the main area she silently shook her head. Luxie was lying on the couch in a white shirt and red boxer shorts snoring away happily.

"Four, nine," she muttered between two snores. "Baby, baby, you know you want to," she silently began singing. "Thirty-three, that's who we be." Jondy smiled at poured herself a cup of coffee. She leaned on the counter and continued listening to the random words being spewed out of the young girl's mouth.

A few moments later Heresy came out of her room. She was wearing all black and concealing clothes. The tall woman did not look like she had just woken up at all nor like she had slept the whole night either.

"You okay?" Heresy asked nicer than usual. Jondy smiled a little and nodded.

"You okay?" she repeated the question with a wide grin and received a glare from the other woman. "You don't have to worry about me." Jondy grabbed another cup and poured Heresy some coffee. She added several spoons of sugar and handed the cup over with a spoon.

"I wasn't," Heresy said with a smirk and took the cup of coffee. She stirred the coffee. "I have a shoot today. You take her."

"Can I keep her?" Jondy asked with a small laugh. "You really don't mind her being here?"

"I do. I hate her," Heresy said with a glare. There was something about the X6 that unnerved her. Maybe it was the way she had found Dustin Infinite and gotten friendly with him after only ten minutes or maybe it was just that Heresy found herself threatened by the girl. Luxie did not seem like anything else Heresy had seen in Manticore. Sure, the last time she had been there was twelve years ago but other soldiers seemed so much more disciplined and educated, Luxie was just a human with super-strength.

She threw her spoon at Luxie who snorted and rubbed her nose. She shuffled a bit and then sat up, the spoon falling into her cleavage.

"That hurt," she growled angrily and grabbed a light blue shirt from the pile of clothes she had used as a pillow. Then she grabbed some jeans and a jacket. "I'm hungry," she announced and walked over to the kitchen.

"I can't," Jondy suddenly said looking at Heresy and placing her mug into the sink. She gave it a quick rinse and let it to dry. "I was planning on doing something else today."

"Something… illegal?" Heresy asked smugly. It seemed like she might forget about the shoot she had to do exactly that. Illegality was something Heresy knew well and if anyone knew about doing the wrong thing, it was her.

"No," Jondy said with a glare. There was a pause where nothing happened and Luxie looked between the two of them with a spoon of cereal in her mouth. She felt great being the youngest because that way things could always be blamed on her age. She decided that she would buy some small marshmallows to go with her cereal and maybe some juice and candy and… Luxie's mind slowly drowned into Candyland and she absently scoped more cereal into her big mouth.

Jondy and Heresy looked at the dreaming girl in confusion before Heresy expressed a loud 'Aha' and ran out of the apartment before Jondy could object. Jondy looked at Luxie who had not noticed anything here and decided that if she was going to go snooping in Infinity's clientele files, Luxie would be good enough to distract any guards.

And possibly beat them down where necessary.


	6. When Bad Girls Go Worse

Chapter Four: When Bad Girls Go Worse

Luxie started at the Infinity Incorporated building and felt all kinds of strange words flow into her mind. She felt intoxicated by the bright blue and green of the neon sign across from her and godly when looking down at the ant-sized humans below.

Luxie and Jondy had taken a bus to the city centre and sat in Savage for an hour as Jondy explained what she planned on doing. She had not told Luxie what Dustin Infinite suspected and that his brother had been murdered. When her suspicions were confirmed she would let Heresy and Luxie know and the three of them would go on a wonderful hero-spree for Damien's murderer. In Jondy's head the hunt ended with a medal and a lifetime food supply so she would never again have to work in the café.

Then her sister Max would call her up from what she had seen on television and eventually her whole unit would live together happily forever after. Jondy sighed as she reminisced over her little fantasy. She was busy pulling a grappling hook out of Luxie's backpack and putting it together.

"Why are we breaking into that place?" Luxie asked turning around to look at her companion. "Why don't we just go inside?"

"Illegal is good for a Manticore mind, Lux," Jondy said and pointed the gun towards the building. Infinity was taller than the structure they were on but she could still get the hook up fine enough. The only problem was the people working on the three top floors. They would gape at the two young women climbing up a wire onto the building. She just hoped that Luxie climbed as fast as she talked. She jumped at the snap of a pair of fingers.

"Hey," Luxie said. "Weren't you listening?" She was even more upset than she had been a second ago. It was the third time since her arrival that she had been called Lux and she really did not like it because that was not her name – it was Luxie, plain and simple.

"Planning," Jondy defended herself. She held a pair of leather gloves out to Luxie. "Can you climb really fast?"

"Are you kidding me?" Luxie said with a wide grin. It was one of the few things that Manticore had actually mastered teaching her. Luxie could climb up, down, sideways and even with her upside-down when necessary. If only she was not expected to jump down a wall or rope in a perfect ten-point landing. She pulled the gloves on, glad that one of her few extraordinary skills were coming to use finally and with a nod from Jondy she took off.

The wire vibrated for a short while when Luxie was still getting to everything, but then she raced up the wire barely moving. Jondy nodded in amazement and grabbed Luxie's backpack off the floor. When Luxie gave her a thumbs up moments later, she rushed up the wire with hardly as much speed as her predecessor.

"Wow, you really are fast," Jondy said when she arrived at the top. She left the wire where it was because luckily it had caught hold just behind an air duct and was otherwise hidden from you.

"Fastest gun in the west," Luxie said her chin-to-chin smile present. "I think there's about twenty-four levels, so which one do we take?"

"There's about thirty," Jondy said glancing over the edge and Luxie shrugged. It was not like she cared much about numbers… except four, nine… something. She shook her head at the weirdness of the occurrence. Numbers generally did not appear in her head, unless it was two sugarpops or three sodas. "And they said it was on level 26."

"They who?" Jondy opened her mouth to say but refrained herself. She turned around and walked over to the door. "They what?" Luxie changed her question. She really did not like being kept in the dark and not knowing what they were looking for or why unnerved her greatly. There had to be some way of getting Jondy to tell.

Luxie's eyes glazed over as memories flashed in her mind. She could remember pushing knives under people's nails, boring bayonet blades into people's thighs and holding their heads under ice cold water. She saw bleeding eyes, blood running down people's chests and blood splattered onto walls. She saw people shot in front of the eyes of their loved ones and pets strung up from ceilings.

Luxie had seen all of these things before she turned thirteen and even then they had traumatized her. She could stand seeing blood and she would not mind drawing it in a situation but when those faceless victims was replaced by Jondy, she felt disgusted.

Although she had only known the blonde for a few days she felt like Jondy was almost like her older sister. Manticore knew to teach its soldiers not to get emotionally attached to anyone or anything, but Luxie was a special kind of soldier. She did not want to hurt Jondy and would just have to pester the answer out of her.

"Luxie!" she heard Jondy hiss and almost fell over when her mind released her. "Blue Lady, you have the attention span of a goldfish."

"It's longer than that," Luxie defended herself, although she was not sure how much longer. Unlike her fellow soldiers, the black-haired girl faded between reality and her own fantasy world as quick as an arrow. Jondy nodded to Luxie and the two of them walked over to the rooftop access.

Jondy was quite sure there was no security grid attached to it because it was the middle of the day and people were constantly coming up here for a smoke break. However, when she entered the building she carefully checked around the corners for people coming from either side. Everyone at Infinity was wearing their working clothes and Luxie and Jondy were not exactly dressed for the occasion.

Luxie was wearing her top, jeans, jacket and metal-plated boots and Jondy was wearing a tight black sleeveless turtleneck under a black leather jacket and black leather pants. She felt it was the right outfit for her illegal stunt and of accentuated her figure. It seemed black was the colour of the day for the two X5s.

"Top floor holds da bosses," Luxie said and glanced at a board which noted what was held on every floor. "You said twenty-two?"

"Twenty-six," Jondy corrected her as the two of them casually slandered over to the board. Their eyes took no time in flashing over the whole panel but their minds instantly calculated where the twenty-sixth floor would be written up. Even Luxie managed to gaze upon it at the same time Jondy did.

"Archives," Luxie said and looked at Jondy. Archives held the past and nothing that was worth selling for faeces. "What's in archives?"

"Clientele records," Jondy replied finally giving away a bit of her plan. She needed Luxie not only to help her take out any security but to search the large amount of clientele that Infinity had. Luxie nodded and grinned widely at the fact that she had finally been allowed in on the plan, although she was not entirely sure what it was.

If Jondy was looking for a guy, Luxie was sure Heresy could lure someone over. Or if that did not work, Jondy was surely able to use her perfectly adjusted Manticore charm to get herself one. What was this all about? Why were they breaking into Infinity Incorporated?

"Hey," Luxie suddenly remembered. Jondy walked over to the elevator and hushed her black-haired companion under the suspicious glances of a person sitting in a couch reading a magazine. "Hey," Luxie repeated in an overly dramatic whisper. "I know someone who works here."

The elevator arrived with a ping, a man stepped out and the two woman entered the lift. Jondy pushed the button for the twenty-sixth floor and Luxie ran her hand over due to its button-command. Jondy rolled her eyes slightly because she had not thought being a hero would be so tiresome and annoying. The doors closed and Luxie turned to her blonde friend.

"This guy I know works here," she said and tried to remember his surname. She could not place it but she remembered the logo and his first name. "He was called Dustin and he had this shaggy out-of-bed look. Really hot, met him at Savage that first night."

"You sure are the party girl," Jondy mentioned remembering her first thoughts about the girl. "Not like most of the Manticores I know of."

"How many do ya know?" Luxie said slyly. Something about Jondy and Heresy's way of life bothered her and she would dig deeper and deeper until she found out what it was.

"My unit," Jondy said carefully. She did not really know any of them anymore except for Heresy. There had been no contact from Zack for quite some time now and without him there was no way of finding Syl, Krit, Max or the others again.

"But you're an X5," Luxie retorted. Even X7's did not only work with their units. When Luxie was twelve they had already started training with other units and although Luxie's was an experimental unit, they were still able to come in contact with others. She remembered a few guys, however, that she was never allowed to come in contact with. She remembered that it was going to be soon that she would meet some of them, or one of them. She liked the way they look, but she had not seen them since she was fifteen, so who knows how they turned out.

Jondy looked at Luxie saying nothing because there was nothing to say.

"How long have you two been out here?" Luxie asked. She had caught on that they had not been in Manticore for a while and she thought she could recall where she remembered 'Max's' barcode from. Jondy gave a long sigh but never broke eye contact. Luxie felt very unnerved by the silence and they tension because she felt like jumping and possibly singing while doing so. She tired hard not to break the moment and Jondy could see her quiver.

"Twelve years," Jondy said eventually. "Since 2009."

"Two…" Luxie had expected exactly that answer but it took her mind some time to process. Luxie Walker, Manticore side-experiment, had met two of the famed '09 escapees.

She had never believed it to be true because she had seen the fences, walls and guards that protected the perimeter but now there was no denying it. And Max had to be the young woman who was revolting in Seattle. She must have been the one who organized the fire and released Luxie and her freaky friends into the wild.

There was a ping and the elevator doors opened for them.

"Two…" Luxie repeated and gasped for air. Jondy gave her a light slap across the back of her head and received a glare from the small girl.

"Come on," she said and strode off confidently. If you looked like you know what you were doing, people never really asked. Luxie shrugged and with a happy, childish bounce to her step, she followed.

"Very awesome, babe," said one of the photographers.

"Grab the tip of her skirt and pull it a bit," said one of the stylists. "Not that much," he corrected. Heresy smirked at the young man tugging at her skirt. Advertising nowadays was nothing more than pornography. And Heresy was the woman for the job. With her constant flow of feline pheromones, Heresy Scott was the perfect publicity.

Until she had been two years old, Heresy had been normal like her favourite sisters Tinga and Jace but then she was taken away once a week and became a side experiment. She was still the same person but by the time she hit nine the other boys and even those years older began looking at her differently.

Heresy, Tinga and Jace knew that it was the things they pumped into her until she was five years old and that she would never get rid of them. When '09 came, Heresy was one of the first to agree with Zack to leave Manticore. The small brunette could not stand being stared at by the other soldiers and wanted out. She did not want tests, pipes and compatibility scans anymore. She wanted freedom and the life she chose to live.

When Heresy grew up she learned the positive sides of her increased attraction to the male specimen. She got what she wanted and in return her life was more pleasant than it used to be.

Looking back, Heresy thought that when she was ten years old, she was almost as mature as Luxie was now. She had boys hitting on her that were five years older than herself and the only reason the ones twice her age did not do it was because they feared the slammer.

A deep sigh crossed Heresy's lungs and she heard the photographer shout a 'fabulous!' before continuing to click away.

Half an hour later the crew had packed up and the models along with their complimentary clothes were shipped off. Heresy dumped her things on the back seat and revved the car before taking off with speed.

She glanced at the time and gave a silent growl. Jondy was probably still doing her illegal rounds and Savage-time was hours away. Heresy swore at a guy trying to cut her off and remembered Luxie's smug little grin.

That little wannabe-soldier had invaded Heresy's home and was out with her sister. Heresy scanned her mind and wondered where Jondy might have gone instead of working today.

Heresy remembered the day before when Jondy had rushed out of the café. Usually leaving work was not much of a deal to her but last night she was in quite hurry. Heresy racked her internal memory and sucked every detail out of the scene that she could. She remembered something about Infinity being on the television and Jondy complaining about the guys she was serving.

The brunette concentrated hard while trying to keep her eyes on the speeding road the same time. It was not much of a task for a female made in Manticore but she was trying to pick up scents and sounds as well as visuals.

Then she caught a familiar scent and skidded into a scratching halt half-way onto the sidewalk. She smelt Dustin, the guy Luxie had talked to and who claimed to work for Infinity. If there was Dustin and Infinity on the TV, that was defiantly where Jondy had headed.

Heresy praised the genius mind Manticore had blessed her with and sped off towards the large tower in the distance. If she was looking for answers, that was where she would find them.

"Oh, hey, Luxie," Dustin said seeing the girl running towards him. He stopped, smiled and raised his hand to a small wave but she just rushed passed him as if she did not know he was there.

'I didn't think I made that a bad impression,' Dustin thought slowly. 'But why was she here anyway?'

"Is something wrong, sir?" one of Dustin's bodyguards asked. They had been walking several steps in front of him and probably not noticed he had know the raven-haired girl at all.

"Nothing, nothing, Sean," Dustin shook the question away. "Uh, I gotta go to the bathroom quickly. You two just wait in my office, right?" The two bodyguards nodded, turned and walked towards Dustin's large and luxurious office. Dustin watched them turn a corner and then rushed off in the direction he suspected Luxie had gone.

If he remembered correctly, she had mentioned that she had only recently moved to Los Angeles and was living with a friend of hers. She did not know anyone, so it was quite impossible for her to know anyone but himself at Infinity. And if she had been applying for a job here… Let's just say, Dustin hoped she never went to a job interview in an outfit like that.

And the way she had looked also perplexed him slightly. Of course, when he had seen her last, she was slightly drunk, but she looked like the cheery and happy type. Now she had seemed determined and her eyes were glazed over with a mist that focused only on where she was going.

"Here," Jondy said grabbing a file from one of the metal shelves. She handed it to Luxie. "It seems like these are the major clientele files. Go though them and remember every company you see." Luxie nodded and slumped down onto the floor. The moment she read 'Maxwell Military Academy' on the first page, she stifled a yawn and felt she had been much to excited. She always thought breaking and entering involved stealing valuables not memorising companies.

She managed to glance at another two or three names of Military Academies before she felt her mind slipping and listened to Jondy mumble the names of soldier training facilities. She was not paying much attention but them something caught her ear and she heard Jondy's voice falter.

"Manticore," escaped Luxie's mouth in a whisper when she repeated what she had heard. She dropped the file she was holding and stood up.

"Manticore Los Angeles Branch," Jondy said and looked at the short girl. Luxie felt much shorter than she usually did now. The fact that Manticore was still there and that it was closer than she had hoped almost made her heart stop. She ran away from Seattle in the hopes of never coming across anything remotely Manticore. She could deal with Jondy. She could even deal with Heresy. She could not deal with another Manticore.

"Why did you come here?" she demanded anger in her voice. She was more than angry now. Jondy, the person she had hoped would be her link to the past but a normal future, had brought her something she never wanted. "Why are we here?"

"I…" Jondy began and felt a tear running down her cheek. She was not one to cry but she had run from Manticore for twelve years and now it was back. Seattle was gone and the place that had been her home in hell for the first ten years of her life had come back to haunt her. "A guy was killed and I heard… heard people talking how they thought it was a client. I was going to play the hero." She sniffed and looked down at Luxie.

"Well, you're not!" Luxie yelled and the sight of Jondy's tears made her own well up. "You're not a hero, Jondy! You're a… a freak! And it's here and we'll never get away from it! It burnt down, Jondy! It burnt and now it's back." Luxie felt completely helpless and when she felt helpless there was only one thing to do. "It's your fault!" Blame the problem on someone else.

"What's going on here?" Dustin asked. He was standing in the doorway of the archives room, watching two young woman bawling over one of his files and accusing one another. Luxie turned around, her eyes wide in shock. Quickly Jondy and herself wiped their tears from their faces. The red in their eyes faded quickly and seconds later it looked as it nothing was wrong. Jondy quickly bent down and picked the file up.

"Nothing," Luxie said bravely.

"What are you doing in my archives?"

"Your…" Luxie was confused. This was Infinity archives and although Dustin claimed to work here, these were not his archives, unless.

"I own Infinity. What's that?" he asked a bit gruffly and pulled the file out of Jondy's grasp. The shock of him being here and having heard at least a part of their conversation caused her reaction to be delayed.

"Manticore? They're our biggest client," Dustin said and looked at the two girls. "Why do you have this?"

"I think Manticore killed your brother," Jondy said calmly as if they were drinking tea. Luxie and Dustin gaped at her. The moment she had seen the name on the paper the possible proceedings had flashed her mind. "I think your brother found out what Manticore was and they had him killed."

"Why would they do that?"

"Manticore doesn't like people know who they are and what they do," Luxie explained. "And if you savour that life of yours," she waved her finger at him, "you better leave town as fast as possible."

"If they killed my brother, I'm going to bring them down," Dustin said fiercely. Luxie and Jondy looked at each other saw a smile spreading across each other's faces.

"You…" Luxie sniggered, "bring Manticore down? It took several soldiers, many, many bombs and years on the outside to bring Manticore down, and who knew about it? No one, Dustin. When Manticore went down, no one knew except those who were there." Jondy looked at Luxie. She remembered what Luxie had said about Manticore having burnt down and she would have to ask her friend about that later.

"Can I have that back?" she asked holding out her hand and taking a step forward. Dustin took a step back but Jondy grabbed the file. In the same instant Luxie took several fast steps forward, whispered an 'I'm sorry' and punched him in the face. Jondy watched Dustin fall and then turned her gaze to the other soldier.

"If he wants to take Manticore down, we're going to have to do it for him," she said and looked down at the unconscious body. "I kinda like him and I don't want him killed," she added with a smile.

"Let's get out of here," Jondy said and Luxie gave a loud 'hell, yeah' as a response. They stepped over Dustin and ran down the hall. However, two spy-suit clad soldiers dropped down in front of them.

"Manticore," Jondy hissed and she noticed one of them smirk at the comment.


	7. The Beginning Of A War

Chapter Five: The Beginning Of A War

The shorter Manticore soldier cracked her knuckles.

"You killed Damien, didn't you?" Luxie spat and like Jondy got ready to attack the two of them. The male of the two stood still although it was obvious he wanted the job over and done with.

"Hey, you're pretty smart for a Seattle-breed," said the short female. Luxie might have seemed small to Jondy and Heresy, but this girl barely reached the male's elbow. The two of them were completely clad in black, like Jondy, except that they were wearing black nylon masks – the type assassins wore.

Before anyone could say anything else, the male gave a short nod and his female companion shot forward at the immense speed a genetically engineered human should posses. She rammed her arm into Luxie's gut who doubled over in the sudden shock of pain.

The female skidded to a halt behind Luxie and gave her a comical kick in the ass. Luxie stumbled forward and fell to the ground. Jondy dropped the files she had onto the floor making sure they did not flutter apart and got into a fighting stance. Over the years on the outside she had meshed her Manticore training into a freestyle mixed with fighting that she picked up from the street and various martial arts academies.

"Aww, did I hurt your baby sister?" the female asked with a snigger. Jondy could see the male shaking his head. Apparently she was talking too much for his liking and was making waste of his time. "I think I'm a-kill you first," the femme fatal said and rushed towards the blonde. Jondy took a step back and caught her opponent's fist. She gave it a push bringing the girl off balance and then twisted it spinning the girl though the air.

Unfortunately, she had perfected landing after a blow and before Jondy realized it she had sustained a kick to the face. She stumbled back but recovered quickly and while staggering back she turned and delivered a backwards roundhouse kick across her opponent's face. Jondy smirked as she saw the girl straighten. Her tongue moved under the nylon mask as she got rid of the itch the blood on her face had created. Jondy dared not wipe her blood away for fear of being caught out again. She had to be careful with this girl who had obviously had much more training than herself. She assumed the girl had come from the Los Angeles branch and like Luxie been there all her life.

"010," said the male and when the two of them dropped their cover to look at him, the girl got a punch in the face. She fell over backwards and Jondy looked at grinning Luxie. She was waving her hand in the air trying to shake off the pain.

"What's she made out of? Bricks?"

"Copper," the male said and took a step towards them. Luxie shuffled back and took position next to Jondy. They both knew that out of two soldiers the one that held back was usually observing the other and therefore more advanced.

"Copper? That's wussy metal," Luxie said smugly at her basic knowledge of chemistry. Rather than saying anything the male rushed towards them and punched at Jondy first. Luckily, she had foreseen the attack, blocked his arm and slammed her free arm into his ribs. He staggered at the blow. Jondy would have smirked had he been a little weaker.

"I guess you're the strong, silent type then," she concluded and cursed herself for giving off a Luxie-like comment. This was a battle not a talk show. She noticed that he was sneering and was again not surprised when he rushed forwards. This time rather than block, she moved aside causing him to turn with her and brought her leg up fiercely between his. He stopped at the pain and fell to the ground clutching himself.

"Right on!" Luxie called out to her and walked over to give the blonde a high-five. She was interrupted in the movement by her feet disappearing under legs and she fell flat on her back. A split second later 010 was sitting on her, using her legs to pin Luxie's down and a hand on Luxie's throat. She pushed and the black-haired girl's windpipe would be broken along with the bones in the back of her neck. Luxie dared not move her hands for fear of loosing her beloved windpipe.

"982, you alright?" she asked and looked at him. When he got up it was obvious he was still in a lot of pain but he nodded. Jondy made a move towards him and 010 pushed her hand down hard onto Luxie's throat which made the girl give a retching sound.

"Let her go," Jondy demanded.

"Or what?" 982 asked with a growl. He stepped towards her and Jondy immediately felt threatened not only by the strength he obviously had but by his mere presence. She gulped deeply. "'S right, I'm not a little kitten like you," he said sneering again under his nylon mask. His hand moved forward faster then Jondy had anticipated in her fear and she found herself hanging above the floor, feet dangling and gasping desperately for air.

"Kill her," 982 demanded and turned so that Jondy could see 010 gradually increasing pressure on Luxie's throat. Luxie, although prone to do stupid things at times, knew that if she moved, she would be a goner. "Hurry up," 982 growled and when 010 looked down at Luxie she grinned at the wide eyes that had appeared on her submissive opponent.

Then a powerful kick came down hard on 010's neck and everyone there heard the crack as her spine broke.

"You having a party without me?" Heresy asked smugly and kicked the limp body off Luxie. The male increased his grip on Jondy's throat but she had taken this moment to kick him in his stomach. He shuddered at the blow and loosened the grip, but she remained in the air. Luxie cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders around. She glared at the black-clad assassin.

"I suspect you killed Dustin's brother?" He said nothing but his eyes darted between Heresy and her. His pace of breath was slower than before and the beat of his heart had increased by a beat. "I don't really like people killing people."

"They teach you needlepoint in Seattle then?" he asked and Heresy pulled a face. He had seemed really hot and she had thought she might be able to persuade him to some hot sweaty monkey love, but if he was making Luxie-style jokes…

"I thought you were the tall, dark and mysterious guy?" Luxie asked raising an eyebrow. She glanced down at 010 just to make sure if the girl really was dead. And although his inner Manticore mind swore at him, he did the same. Jondy used that moment to use both her legs to push him off her. The two of them were thrown against opposite walls. He looked down at the girl again and then up at Jondy.

"See you on the flipside," he said and rushed down the corridor making a head dive out of the window. The three girls watched him and Jondy quickly bent down to pick up her files. Some of them had come out of the folder during the fight but it was no big deal.

"I don't think he liked us very much," Luxie said with a nod towards the window.

"Didn't seem the friendly type, Jondy. If you're looking for a boyfriend, let me help, kay?" Heresy said to her sister and grabbed the dead girl from the floor. Luxie gave her a confused look. "If we leave her lying around people are gonna get weird and find out about us. I really don't want that."

"In Seattle," Luxie began but stopped herself. She would rather the three of them got out of there and discussed their problems elsewhere. She glanced at Jondy who nodded and then the three of them rushed up the stairs to Jondy's suspension wire.

When they came back to the apartment it was almost two at the morning and Luxie gave a wide yawn to indicate her tiredness. Although she wanted to hear all about Jondy's little plan, she was hoping it could wait. Jondy, however, looked as awake as always, despite the gash on her bottom lip, the way she limped and blue marks on her neck. Luxie had similar marks around her neck, a blue (or was it purple) eye and a gash on her top lip.

All the time while they had buried 010 outside the city, she had mocked them for being lousy fighters. 010 had been an X6, they assumed with red-tinted blonde hair, dark brown eyes and a strange orangey barcode instead of the usual standard black. At first Jondy had thought it might be because of the different branch but then she suspected that it was because of the copper that she was supposed to have in her body. She had not has anything with her and the three of them performed a rather unceremonious burial in which they dumped her into the ground and 'accidentally' mixed some rocks into the sand they chucked in just as carelessly.

Luxie slumped down onto the couch and gave another wide yawn. Heresy's eye had caught the wide open mouth of the X6 and just as she tried to impose some manners upon the little fiend, she yawned as well.

Jondy watched the two of them, waiting for them to ask.

"What's with the files?" Heresy finally asked and Jondy grinned. She slumped down next to Luxie and Heresy took a seat next to her older sister.

"We got them from Infinity. Apparently there's another Manticore just outside LA," Jondy said smugly and looked up at Heresy. She had pulled a disgusted face at the new revelation. Like all transgenics Manticore had been the worst part of her life and if there was another…

"I'm gonna bring it down," she said with a growl in her voice. Having a Manticore in Seattle was bad enough but now that there was one in _her_ city, it would have to go.

"That's real smart," Jondy said. "You can't bring it down by yourself."

"Just like you can't be a hero, Jonds," Heresy said and got up. "Look, I've got another shoot tomorrow morning, I'll talk to you then." Luxie thought she noted a hint of malice in her voice and although she was accustomed to it, she was not sure that Jondy had ever been on the receiving end of Heresy's hatred. Heresy held her head high and then walked off into her room.

Luxie glanced over to her blonde companion. Like a true soldier, Jondy had not shed a tear not given any indication that the tone in her sister's voice had hurt her. She even smiled when she turned to look at Luxie.

"Look, Jondy," Luxie said and thought about the consequences of what she was about to say. She could think of many, most of them ending in death and all of them smeared with blood as if it were chocolate spread. "Do you remember when… you told me there was another Manticore?" She could see Jondy's smile disappear and regretted having started the conversation.

"You were angry."

"Pissed off more likely," Luxie corrected her and stared at her fingernails. Maybe she should paint them; a cotton-candy pink maybe. "Anyway, do you remember at all what I said?"

"I was built to remember," Jondy said and hung her head. She was, however, not thinking of the same words as Luxie. In her mind hung the words 'freak', 'not a hero' and 'It's your fault!' The last echoed in her mind and hurt Jondy more than any words had ever hurt her.

"That's why I'm here," Luxie said slowly. She thought Jondy was thinking about Manticore, the burnt down home in hell. Jondy looked up, confused and Luxie realized Jondy might not have caught the most important part. She breathed in deeply. "I know I'm only a kid to you and much of what I say comes out gibberish, but I really want you to listen to me." Jondy nodded slowly. "I don't want you to run away or… or call anyone, Jondy. You have to stay here and…"

"What are you talking about, Luxie?" Jondy interrupted and turned her whole body. The way Luxie sounded so concerned made her worried too.

"And you can't tell her." The two of them gave a short glance in Heresy's room's direction from which loud music was penetrating the walls. Jondy thought about it for a while. If Luxie was this concerned, it must be important. Over the few days she had know the girl, she had noticed that the raven-haired X6 barely talked much or spoke anything with such a seriousness. At first she thought it might be some defect in the girl but eventually she supposed Luxie was just a really happy girl. She nodded. Luxie breathed in deeply again. It was really hard telling Jondy this.

"Manticore burnt down." She stopped letting Jondy's mind process the information and noticed Jondy was waiting for more. "A few days ago, a fire broke out and at first the doors were locked and we couldn't get out. When I escaped to the underground, I heard rumours of the '09ers having a hand in it and…" she stopped and waited again for Jondy's reaction.

"Max," the blonde muttered slowly her eyes still focused on those of Luxie. "Ben. Zack… all the others. My brothers and sisters are still alive," she said and Luxie saw a smile forming. "I have to…" she stopped and saw Luxie shake her head. "Why don't you want me to call them? I haven't seen most of them for twelve years and I need to know if they're safe."

"452, Max, she would be in big trouble if you were to bust her. I don't know much but Manticore really has it in for her. She was back at Manticore at one point," Jondy gasped. "So were some of the others," Luxie explained and felt a lump rise in her throat. If she had ever felt a bond to any of the kids in her unit, she would want to see them again. However, the only attachment to Manticore she had was in memories and dreams and the frame of a soldier that appeared in them. Although she desperately wanted to know who that soldier was, she wanted to be as far from Manticore as she could even more.

"Manticore in Seattle is down and the only people who know of the LA branch are us."

"And Infinity."

"We're the only ones who can do anything," Luxie persisted. She had never felt so strongly about destruction in her life. Even in Manticore her fighting abilities were hindered by the fact that she did not really want to hurt anyone with the exception of doctors and guards. Jondy considered this and nodded.

"You're right, Luxie," she said slowly. "Max did the first step by bringing down our old home and now it's our turn to free the human beings that are being kept in this place." Luxie smiled. She had someone on her side now and she felt like she would never be alone ever again.

Luxie pulled a face as she stomped her feet in front of the bouncer like a child throwing a tantrum.

"But I want to!" she yelled at him. "I want to, I want to, I want to."

"Sorry, kid, no cash, no club," he said and let someone else pass.

"She didn't have any cash," Luxie exclaimed. "She just waggled her… oh," she noticed and gave a big sigh. She was wearing baggy dark red jersey over baggy black pants.

'Real smart, Catwoman,' she thought. Her mind had recently acquired itself another nickname and Luxie was hoping this one would last for a while. Her last one, Ronda, had not been particularly appealing, but Catwoman, now there was a catchy name for a superhero. She took a few steps back while grinning widely and then rushed out of his sight.

When she had slipped into a side alley, from which she had first had to chase a bum away, she pulled the jersey off and quickly fixed up her hair.

Tommy almost swallowed his tongue when the new, much more improved Luxie came back. She was wearing a dark purple corset with red lace tying up either side over her pants. Her pale skin gave the impression of British royalty and her wild messy hair style showed she was the perfect party girl.

"Can I come in?" she asked in a soft voice and immediately Tommy opened the door for her, watching her behind as she waggled it while walking in. When she was inside, she turned, stuck out her tongue and then walked over to the dance floor.

Dustin watched the short, curvy black-haired girl swaying her hips and arms to the music. Although she was not as surrounded as the regular he now knew as Heresy, she still had a fair share of men around her. She smiled seductively at one of them and he stumbled in the move he was just making.

"Damn," he muttered beneath his breath. "So fine."

Although he was sure no one had heard him due to the volume of both the music and his voice, Jondy smirked. She knew the guy was talking about Luxie because when he had come into the room, it was obvious that the two of them had know each other. And now that Luxie was going to become a regular at Savage, she expected to see more of Mister Infinite there to. All she hoped for was that he would not start coming out of her room in the mornings demanding coffee.

"Bartender, I'd like whatever the lady is having," she heard a male voice and turned to look at the guy who was trying to get her drunk. Of course, what he did not know was that the three glasses already standing in front of her were filled with an equal mixture of tequila, vodka and rum. She put down the glass she had just finished and grabbed another downing it immediately.

"A good drinker, I like that about a woman," he said smugly.

"Wouldn't have guessed," she said rolling her eyes. Although Luxie now had her multi-billionaire and all Heresy was interesting in was sex, Jondy still felt she had a long way to go when it came to finding someone who was appealing enough to her. So far all the men she had met were either jerks or assassins. Her love life was not shaping up really well.

"What are you having?" he asked and took the glass. Jondy smirked and watched him raise it to his lips. She grabbed another glass and took a sip just as he had and saw him choke and cough on his mixture. "What the hell is this?"

"More alcohol than you can handle, buddy," Jondy said with a smirk. "When you can down bottle of '09 vodka, come again." She smirked at him and he staggered off, the alcohol already taking effect.

"You're the strangest drinker I have ever met," the bartender said and took the empty glasses.

"What about Heresy?"

"She's even worse."

"By the way, Mark, we have another drinking buddy, so keep your alcohol storages up," she said with a smirk and put her glass down. Now was the time to celebrate for their future victory over Manticore.

'And so, I conclude that having been kicked out of the place I had known as home for almost eighteen years of my life, was not one of the worst things that could have happened. I could still be there.

'It seems that Heresy isn't really that a bad person. I mean, she let me stay here and she even offered to help me get a job when she wasn't shooting (a photo shoot, duh) and possibly hire a builder to split Jondy's room so that we could each have our own.

'I wonder how long that'll take, but I can't wait… I'm actually getting a place to call my own and I'm having friends to go with the bargain.

'I really enjoy Jondy and despite my Manticore paranoia, she never told her demon sister about Seattle's branch burning down. I supposed her desire to be a hero must have rubbed off on me because I desperately want to get Manticore. Not only because they were in fact the company that ruinws most of… my whole life and made me the freak I am (I must admit, there are advantages, but being normal…), but also for some odd reason to avenge Damien (Dustin's brother).

'It's strange. Although I do remember telling Jondy I was going to do it so he wouldn't get himself killed, I kind of want to help in some way too. Maybe I should call him…

'Yeah, I'll do that!'

"Hey!" Luxie yelled as Heresy ripped the piece of paper she was writing on out of her hand.

"And so, I conclude," Heresy managed to read before Luxie jumped her and the two girls crashed to the ground. The two of them tangled into each other, pulled hair and used their claws in a match that would have made any sane man explode with sexual tension.

"Waf goink on?" Jondy asked coming out of the bathroom with toothbrush in her mouth. She gave a deep sigh when she realized what she had put up to with allowing Luxie to stay with them. There were going to be constant and literal catfights between the two youngsters and she would just have to live with it.

Then after gathering her strength for several seconds, Heresy threw Luxie across the room and onto the couch. She grabbed a lighter and set the paper alight.

"Didn't Manticore teach you, Lux," she said with a wide smirk. "Never leave important information lying around." She had not read it but what her commanding officer had told her many times stuck in her mind. "And Zack is always right when it comes to being inconspicuous."

"My name is Luxie!" the small girl yelled and immediately thrust herself forward knocking Heresy and the flaming piece of paper to the floor. Jondy stepped on the paper, picked it up and threw it in the trash. Then under the crashing and yelling of her two roommates, she returned to the bathroom to get ready for work.


End file.
